Okay, I’m going to say this once and only once. I hate riot shields. You need a specific button combination to deal with a riot shield, you cannot counter one, if you accidently attack a guy with one your combo breaks so you can’t complete those absurd massive combo challenges, and the thugs will ignore guns and run all the way across an area for a riot shield which sucks. Not only have that, but the Arkham series does NOT play well enough for you to be able to handle them flawlessly all the time. Snipers are also rather cheap, I’ve had them see me through objects more than once. Okay let’s get this started.

Arkham Asylum is a great game mostly because it starts the series out and you actually feel like Batman. There are a large mass of characters like Killer Croc, Joker, Bane, and even Poison Ivy. The story was rather interesting, it starts when Batman captures Joker and due to Harley Quinn, he escapes INTO the asylum. He doesn’t try to break out, but rather is breaking into the asylum. Why is Joker breaking into the asylum? Simple, because a doctor in the asylum has been unintentionally making him a steroid that makes Venom look pathetic which brings Bane who isn’t insane into the mix. Titan thugs are huge, and Joker wants a huge army of them. You use forensic study like a detective now and then, but it really isn’t used all that much kind of stinks because that part is really fun. The storyline is fun but kind of safe though it is original, Joker is still causing chaos and using Bane’s venom to do so is original but not really out there. The side quests are entertaining but lacking in the first game. You discover a crazy story involving a ghost (more or less), and you find trophies and references to other Gotham people to capture the Riddler. The boss battles in this game are lame though. You fight Bane who is a glorified Titan thug, you fight various Titan thugs, Poison Ivy who is probably the most original fight here, and Joker who was Bane but glorified… this final boss battle with Joker is one that is notorious because it didn’t feel like you were even fighting Joker, it felt like Bane with claws. While Killer Croc was in the game, I would call his level as a boss fight, I’d call it a challenge but it was fun and somewhat original. Dealing with Scarecrow is awesome but also not really a boss fight rather than really trippy levels. Not a bad game but not the greatest in the bunch, but it is a great place to start the series.

Arkham City is a crazy game. Cut off most of the city, send in all the killers and crooks, then add Batman villains and Batman and that is Arkham City. This game has a huge amount of awesome in it, and is probably the best of the three games all together. Joker is dying and he sent his blood around the city so you need a cure, and Joker is the last person you deal with but the main villain of the game is actually Hugo Strange. This is why I do not call the Arkham series so far the “Joker Trilogy” because I didn’t feel he was the main villain in this game, though he was one of the main forces in the game along with the Penguin while the main villain was Hugo Strange. The forensics aspect used in the first game returns more using this in the main story as well as the side quests in much more interesting ways like tracking bullets to find a sniper as well as scanning crime scenes to find a killer. This game also has a large amount of characters and a really good storyline to bring them all together as Batman faces someone who knows about him and what he will do in Hugo Strange as well as Batman facing the possibility of his own death. Boss fights are much better in this game including a fight with Solomon Grundy, Ra’s al Ghul, Mr. Freeze, and Clayface as well as awesome challenges with Hugo Strange and Joker that felt like you were facing Hugo Strange and his gang, and Joker and his gang. The c\side quests were awesome and insane including finding Victor Zsasz through phone calls which was probably the lamest one, helping Bane destroy Titan, solving a series of murders that involve Hush, solving a series of murders that involve the sniper Deadshot, and the Riddler challenges which included more references to the Batman mythos, more trophies that were much more challenging to gain, and this time Riddler had hostages that you had to save in really cool elaborate death traps! Riddler also had informants through all the local gangs that you could use to help you find the trophies. After dealing with all of these trophies which, fun to get to but pointless otherwise, you actually got to find Riddler and take him down. Awesome. There is also really cool downloadable content for this game in the form of Catwoman. You get to play as her and do a few missions with her involving Hugo Strange, Poison Ivy, and the final confrontation with Two-Face. Also you can play as Nightwing for a few challenge maps with stories behind them which, I don’t care much for challenge maps I find them boring, and Robin for a cool side scroller map as Robin fights against Black Mask keeping him from escaping. Then there is the added storyline dealing with Harley Quinn after the events of the game which feels like you are playing Batman and Robin, and it is awesome. Harley Quinn proves herself to all the nonbelievers in this content, though people reading the comics already knew she was awesome.

Arkham Origins the new game that came out last winter. This game takes place before Quincy Sharp reopens Arkham Asylum. The storyline, probably the best storyline so far to come out of the Arkham series, Batman has only been around for two years. Black Mask, mad at the bat, hires eight killers and assassins to take Batman down. This lone concept brings in a younger Killer Croc who looks like the animated Killer Croc in a way, Shiva, Electrocutioner, Deathstroke or Slade if you watched the Teen Titans animated series, Deadshot, Firefly, Bane, and Copperhead who is female in this game for some reason. While this storyline is fun and original, it also helps that since Batman is new, the GCPD is corrupt and not his friend that they are also enemies. There are plenty of people in the GCPD that are out to kill Batman and anyone who gets in their way, including Gordon who Batman forms a bond with in this storyline. Yes Batman learns things in this storyline. Also running around in the thick of things is a weapons dealing gang lead by the Penguin, playing the same role as in Arkham City. This storyline is great but then really takes a turn when the Joker turns up, though while probably the best Joker in all the games it is a shame he ends up being the main antagonist once more. The boss battles this time aren’t limited to the main storyline, as some of the assassins also fight Batman in side quests which is fun. The main storyline fights are Deathstroke, Killer Croc, Electrocutioner (if you can count that), Copperhead which was a bit scary and awesome, Bane, Firefly, and Bane once more only tougher. In the side quests you also fight Black Mask, Deadshot who is awesome in this game, Shiva, Anarchy, and Bird the right hand man of Bane. The side quests are awesome in this as the forensics are back and incredibly improved and used the most in this game alone, for side quests and the main quest. The side quests involve solving murders, destroying the drug stashes of Black Mask, destroying weapon stashes the Penguin is buying from the GCPD, finding Bird, challenging Deadshot after he shoots down a helicopter that was about to fight you, defeating Shiva after saving a cop from a death trap, stopping Anarchy from blowing up Gotham then capturing him, saving a girl from the Mad Hatter and the creepy version of Wonderland he sends you to, beating up escapees, Solving a hundred year old murder, and of course dealing with Enigma before he became the Riddler. Enigma has some good points and bad points here because, he doesn’t make you find all the neat references to the rest of the Batman lore like before, but instead of Riddler Trophies, he had a bunch of data packs replacing them which, if you found enough, you’d find he hacked some type of camera or server and recorded specific people in very incriminating conversations which is awesome. Enigma doesn’t have the death traps as Arkham City, but with all of this black mail, Enigma has found a calling as an information broker and a cyber terrorist, and I think they should reuse this idea while also keeping the references as well as the death traps, then Riddler would be perfect. In fact, I think Riddler could BE the next main villain, but oh well. Maybe not the best Arkham game due to some of the bugs, but easily a great game to have.

One thing I didn’t mention yet are the gadgets because this topic bugs me. The first game you find all sorts of cool new toys, like the batclaw, the baterang of course, the line launcher, the explosive gel, the personal computer Batman uses to hack computers, and some cool variations of them. The second game really didn’t do much to this though; they didn’t expand on it at all. The freeze grenades were stolen from Mr. Freeze but they were sort of cool, and then they had that silly electric gun. How weird. The third game turned the freeze grenades into glue grenades which feels more like something Batman would make rather than ripping off Mr. Freeze, then Batman ripped off Electrocutioner. Those gloves are awesome though so I’ll let it slide. He also ripped off Slade and took a weird but cooler version of the line launcher. I don’t mind Batman using technology from his villains, but I really don’t like it when a huge majority of the new gadgets are technology Batman pouched off of defeated foes. Give me some cool new gadgets that Bruce Wayne created himself. Give him something besides cute stun grenades. Give him something that makes bats fly to your location and freaks out your foes making them duck for a time, or have a gadget that makes a hologram projection of himself that stands there and makes foes not know where Batman truly is which would be useful in predator missions and when foes set up a hallway to be shot through when Batman is seen. Heck that would be SO USEFUL against snipers. Just some new ideas that Batman creates himself instead of stealing technology from a defeated foe and the gadgets that were already new and awesome in the first game. That is all I have on this subject.

Here is my top list for the games.

Arkham City (plays the best and has great side quests. Also the villains are much more a threat to each other as you fight to save lives as well as end Hugo’s reign.)

Arkham Origins (best side quests and probably the best storyline as well as added use for the cool forensic feature, but lacks the polish of the other games in combat as well as the villains being slightly less tense since most are really only after you.)

Arkham Asylum (Great starting point but probably the worst storyline of the three though still not bad, the side quests were slim, the forensics feature was under used, the final boss fight is infamous as one of the worst, and the boss fights themselves lacked creativity making Scarecrow the best villain of this entire game)

Well there you have it; this is Sauron’s opinion of all the games. I am not sick of Joker, and I have no problem with him coming back into future games, but I agree with a large amount of people in that I would like to see him take a smaller route in the next game. Joker is my second favorite Batman villain, while Riddler is the first so I’d love to see him as a main threat while still having the black mail files all around the city so you still have to hunt them down. Bane was an idiot thug in the first game and while they kind of explained that as well as how monstrous big he is now, I’d still love a return of Arkham Origins Bane. I love Black Mask so yeah let’s see him in the next game please. Scarecrow hasn’t even been in any game but the first, I’d love to see what else he could do. I want to see more gadgets actually made by Batman, but he can still use technology from villains, I would. I hope there are also more opportunities to use the forensics game play like there were in Arkham Origins. As for everything else, pretty much the games are already doing great. Keep it up and I’ll keep coming back. Oh and for a shout out for my friend, more Nightwing and Batman Beyond. Thanks everyone.

Hey guys, I'm back and despite problems with my computer and my schedule, I have a little time to do a blog. I downloaded this and beat it last night honestly and I'm here for the honest review.

Gameplay = 3/5

Okay, I know this one is kind of unfair since it is still the Arkham City gameplay, but I'd think they would have improved from the issues of the original game. Honestly I glide kicked a person and ended up grappling on a freaking rope in the middle of the air instead of hitting said person (Harley). These small minor glitches and bugs with combat and travel are still annoying enough to bug me once and a while, and honestly the counter seemed slower then normal as well (useless double counter still...). There was also a point where I was getting shot at by a sniper and because of me being in detective mode I couldn't see the red laser scope at all. I know it is harder to see, but I shouldn't have to be shot at seven times before noticing it pointed at me. The rest, like last time, was pretty good gameplay, but there are improvements that need to be made.

Creative = 5/5

Seriously I was wondering how much they could really do for Harley Quinn. I know they missed her in the last game, and I know I wanted more from her but this was just awesome. The Joker "popping" up once in a while (those Joker TV things actually) turned a boring exploration into a creepy thought of being watched and of Joker still possibly being alive. The mood of the entire place was just crazy, and working as Batman and Robin was an incredible feeling, even though the entire experience was short lived. If they do more Batman and Robin in the next game like this but bigger and better, I'll play and love it. Also another thing I missed that I wanted from the last game (in a passing thought) was those Wonder City Robots. When I first saw them I thought I'd have to fight them. Never happened. Well it happens on this, and all while they are painted to look like Joker. There is an improved battle like the one Catwoman has with Two-Face as well, plus all the sights of the level which I won't give them all away were creepy but totally worth seeing. While I left IGN's review thinking nothing would be answered, if you are keen enough to look around there are two questions that are indeed answered. One is about Harley's baby and two is what happened to Scar Face when he vanished out of Penguin's lair, and both are answered in a single cameo.

Storyline = 5/5

Harley's looking for revenge, Batman is captured, Robin goes to save him. Really predictable storyline, and honestly it isn't really boring either. We all knew Harley would be going for revenge, just not as DLC. We were all excited to see how her revenge was going down. The small details making Harley look more and more psychotic were perfect. She seriously seems like she is nuts, always asking what Mister J would do, yet there she was always with a back up plan in case her original plan went wrong... yes she had a plan and honestly it was pretty good despite the fact that she was willing to die to kill Batman. She honestly had a few ways to kill him, one of which would have worked if Robin didn't come to save him two days later.... a death trap that seriously felt like a Joker death trap from the cartoon. How Batman survived for two days in that thing is beyond me. It is a great storyline, and Harley seriously makes a great villain and steps up in this DLC making her scary as hell and making her an actual boss unlike in Arkham Asylum where she was kind of a boss but really you fought a bunch of thugs, and in Arkham City where you threw her face into the door once and found her tied up later. This is Harley Quinn, as badass as the Penguin, Joker, Two-Face, or any other villain for that matter.

Overall = 5/5

Honestly this is almost perfect DLC and honestly, if you liked Arkham City who cares about the gameplay, the gameplay was already played and enjoyed. The biggest thing I look at in DLC is Creative and Storyline, and this blew the door down. Loved, Recommended, and worth the 800 Microsoft points. If you enjoyed Arkham City buy this content. If you loved Arkham City you should already have this content.

P.S. I overlook the gameplay a bit and boosted the overall score, since as I said, gameplay is less important since the gameplay in the original game and this are the same. Honestly if you already have the game then the gameplay is pretty much the same in all due honesty. and it is kind of unfair for me to place gameplay in the overall score of DLC but I still talked about it in case someone reading this hasn't bought the game yet and was thinking about the Game of the Year edition. Also some DLC improved the original gameplay, this DLC did not. If the gameplay was improved or was made worse, then and only then would the gameplay score affect the overall DLC score.